Cassie landed face down in a pile of sand. She got up quickly and spat out as much of the sand as she could before losing her lunch. 'Jesus,' she thought as she wiped her mouth with the backside of her yellow biker glove. 'How do people do that all the time?' Cassie stumbled away from her lunch and was nearly crushed by Jacquinn as she fell from the sky.
"What the hell!?" Jacquinn yelled.
"Get the fuck off of me!" Cassie breathed as she kicked Jacquinn in the ass, sending her stumbling.
"Hey! Let's go!" Sonya called from on top a sand dune. Cassie got up quickly, causing her head to spin in the process, and ran up the sand dune, using her arms to propel herself forward. When they reached the top, Sonya said, "We've got to get to the palace before nightfall."
"And why is that, O Sandy One?" Cassie said with a smirk as she looked at the amount of sand that was in Sonya's hair.
"The centaurians come out after nightfall and they can become hostile around this time of year," Kitana's voice said from behind her. Cassie turned, the smile gone from her face, to see the Edenian princess come over the side of the ridge, her perfect body and hair unscathed by the elements. Though Cassie would never admit it, she was kinda, sorta jealous.
"Where are the guys?" Jacquinn asked as she came up behind Kitana. Sonya scanned the surroundings and pointed towards the Outworld marketplace below them.
"I see ice down there, so Sub-Zero must be nearby. And where Sub-Zero is…"
"Scorpion would follow," Kitana finished as she made her way down the side of the sand dune. Cassie gave her mother a she-knows-everything look and followed her down. When she reached the bottom, she had to run to catch up to Kitana who was already heading towards the center of the Outworld marketplace.
"Hey! Other person!" Cassie snapped as she caught up to Kitana. Kitana then stopped and turned around with a hand on her hips.
"We must make haste. Sub-Zero and Scorpion might disappear altogether if we do not find them now," Kitana snarked as Cassie caught her breath.
"Yeah. I know. But, we are a team and you don't leave teammates on top of a sand dune while you go chasing after your boyfriend," Cassie snapped as she pointed at her mother and friend. Kitana's eyes widened quite a bit and Cassie knew she'd struck a nerve.
But then, Kitana's eyes narrowed and she hissed, "Remember who you're speaking to, child." She then turned on her heel walked away quickly. "Princess," Cassie mumbled under her breath as Sonya and Jacquinn finally caught up to her.
"Where's she going?" Jacquinn asked as she gulped in air.
Cassie continued to stare as she said with a roll of her eyes, "Probably to get her witch's broom."
Cassie was staying as far away from Kitana as she could so she would not be tempted to punch her. As her mother was talking about strategies with Jacquinn, Cassie kept her eyes peeled for Scorpion or Sub-Zero. 'Besides mom, I'm the only one who's taking this seriously,' Cassie thought as she stuck a bullet in her gun. 'Where the hell are those guys!?' She was really starting to lose hope that they were both alive and not murdered by the other when she heard a sound that sounded like cryomancer's ice being formed. "Mom!' Cassie called ahead as she definitely heard the sound of a ice ball being thrown.
Sonya must have heard it too because she called out, "Sub-Zero! Come here! We need to talk." Almost as soon as the words left her mouth, an ice statue appeared and broke away to reveal Sub-Zero inside.
"I did not mean to alarm you, General Blade," Sub-Zero said coolly as he stepped out of his ice cocoon.
"Thank god we found you!" Cassie said as she walked up behind him.
"We need to make our leave of the marketplace and be at the palace before nightfall," Kitana said as she walked up to Sub-Zero. "Scorpion will have to find his own way."
"Cool. Um, we should be going, right?" Cassie said as she brushed past Kitana towards the center of the marketplace.
"Child, the palace is on the outskirts of the Outworld marketplace," Kitana said with a smirk. Cassie stopped dead in her tracks and turned around slowly and smiled embarrassingly.
"I knew that," Cassie said through gritted teeth as she marched past Kitana. Though it was sitle, Cassie heard her laugh her melodious laugh, if there was not a care in the world. 'Watch out, Kitana,' Cassie seethed silently. 'There's a storm coming and it isn't stopping for skinny bitches, like you.'
"Keep your heads low. If there are guards, they be able to see us from those windows," Kitana instructed as the group neared the palace.
"How do you expect us to get inside if the guards are going to try and kill us?" Jacquinn asked as she edged along the rocky border that offered limited protection.
"I will speak to Kotal Kahn. He will see our plight and give us what we need," Kitana snapped as she prepared to rise from her hiding place.
"Hold on, Kitana," Cassie said as she yanked Kitana down to her butt. "We should all go so you have more backup if their hostile."
"I would much rather die then jeopardize the mission by bringing in someone Kotal despises!" Kitana snarled as she tried to again stand.
"Think about this Kitana. There is the possibility that Kotal Kahn is no longer the emperor of Outworld and if you go in there unprepared, they could kill you!" Sonya tried to reason as she held Kitana down.
"Unhand me!" Kitana screeched as she whipped out her fans and almost cut Sonya's arm clean off.
"Oh that's it! It's on!" Cassie yelled as she tackled Kitana, pinning her to the ground. Kitana ripped her fan through Cassie's leg, leaving a large gash in its wake. Cassie sucked in a breath and punched Kitana right in the jaw. Sonya tried to get Cassie off of Kitana, but she held on firm. Suddenly, Cassie felt a two very strong arms rip her off of Kitana and throw her to the side of her. She hit the ground hard and felt something snap near her shoulder. She looked up and saw Scorpion towering over her, his eyes alight with hell fire.
"Enough of the bickering," Scorpion snarled as he pulled Cassie to her feet.
"Where the hell were you!" Sonya cried as she vaulted over Kitana.
Scorpion ignored the question and said instead, "We must meet the emperor and get the contract NOW." With that, he turned on his heel and stalked towards the front door of the palace.
"Where the fuck do you think your going," Sonya hissed as she followed swiftly behind, trying to stop him. Sub-Zero steaded Cassie when she tried to follow behind her mother.
"Rest, Cassandra. You are hurt and need to rest. Sleep," Sub-Zero said quietly as he placed a palm on her forehead. She shook his hand away and marched after her mother.
By now, Scorpion had reached the door and was about to burst it down when Sonya called, "Look out!" and shot a pink ball energy right over Scorpion's shoulder. The only thing Scorpion saw was a ball of light as it knocked him on his side. He grunted in pain as Tanya jumped on top of him, pinning him into place with her naginatas. Sonya got out her gun and tried to fire a shot at Tanya, but Scorpion got to her first, throwing her into the door, setting her on fire in the process.
She gasped in pain as he threw his spear and shouted his signature, "GET OVER HERE!" Before he could pull her over though, she cut her arm with one of her naginatas and a beautiful girl clad all in red appeared from the pool of blood at Tanya's feet.
"Skarlet," Cassie mumbled as she made her way towards her mother. Skarlet stared at her, running her eyes up and down Cassie's body with a look that says how-much-of-a-threat-are-you. She then shifted her eyes to Sonya and disappeared in thin air. Cassie's eyes widened as she searched the place where Skarlet was standing. She saw her a little too late. Skarlet jumped behind her and put one of her sharpened knifes to her throat. She pressed the knife so tight that Cassie could feel blood running down her neck and she tried to elbow Skarlet in the ribs. She barely flinched.
Tanya noticed Cassie's peril and she shouted, "If you don't want to be harmed, lower your weapons!" Cassie could see a look of fear cross Sonya's face and she lowered her gun to the ground. Tanya smiled and kicked Scorpion right in the face, making him fall backwards. Cassie was starting to find it hard to breathe, so she tried to grab her rod and nail her right in the crotch. But Skarlet had already thought of that and removed the rod before she could reach it. Skarlet pressed the knife even harder in Cassie's neck when Cassie heard the familiar shink of fans opening. Skarlet's grasp on Cassie slackened and Cassie collapsed, choking in air. Above her, Skarlet and Kitana were in fierce kombat with each other, blood flying everywhere. Cassie dove out of the way as she reached for her rod and brought it into the bitch's crotch. Cassie stepped out of the way as Skarlet collapsed in pain. Kitana looked at Cassie with curiosity in her eyes before she moved on to help Scorpion with Tanya.
Cassie took out her gun and clinked it into position, ready to fire if necessary. Tanya didn't have much fight left in her and was just about to collapse when she flung one of her naginatas right into Sonya's shoulder, pinning her to the door. She gasped in pain as she tried to wrench it out of her shoulder, but the naginata was imbedded in the wood of the door and wasn't coming out easily. Realising that pulling out the naginata was not an option, Sonya ripped out the spare gun she had on her hip and shot round after round of fire at Tanya. Cassie began to run over to her mom to help mobilize her once more. She didn't even come close to seeing Skarlet sneak behind her and implant her knife in Cassie's kneecap. Cassie screamed and dropped to the floor, a wrenching pain filling her stomach.
Sonya moved her gun to Skarlet and screamed as she pulled the trigger, "I'll kill you, bitch! Just you wait!" Skarlet smiled wickedly and punched Sonya square in the jaw, knocking her unconscious. She then hefted Cassie to her feet and bound her arms with chains, along with Sonya. She then stalked over to Sub-Zero, preparing to fight him. Cassie pulled against the chains, wishing she could help in some way. Scorpion was still tirelessly fighting Tanya while she was starting to slow down with her moves. Scorpion seemed to notice this and uppercutted her, sending Tanya reeling backwards. Skarlet noticed this and pushed Sub-Zero aside, ready to charge Scorpion. Sub-Zero noticed too and prepared a ice ball to throw at her, but Cassie noticed something interesting. Sub-Zero hesitated.
That short window of time was all Skarlet needed and she charged Scorpion, sending him careening backwards into Tanya. Scorpion tried to teleport away, but Tanya blew some sort of powder on his face. It hit him head on and it knocked him unconscious. Tanya slowly got up and lowered him gently to the ground. She then cracked her burnt neck side to side and picked up her last naginata and did a back handspring over to Sub-Zero as Skarlet ran at Kitana.